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South Africa have been fined for their slow over-rate in the first Test against India in Chennai. Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, found the side was two overs short of its target after time allowances were taken in to consideration.On day three South Africa managed only 85 overs as India pushed to gain a first-innings lead. It was the day Virender Sehwag raced to the fastest Test triple-hundred, his second in 55 Tests.According to ICC Code of Conduct players are fined 5% of their match fees for every over lost while captain is fined double of that. Consequently South African players lost 10% of their match fees and Graeme Smith lost 20%. The team cannot appeal the fine.After a dull draw in the first Test the two sides now move on to Ahmedabad for the second one starting on April 3.

Andre Nel says he is very pleased to be away from international cricket and loves the opportunity he’s got to play the English county game. Back for two months with Essex, for whom he played in 2005, Nel – by his own admission a little ‘like a schoolboy’ – felt he had more than just his bowling services to offer the club.”I haven’t played domestically for almost two years in South Africa,” he told the ECB’s website. “But it’s very different to international cricket. The nice thing is that it’s not as intense. You can be more relaxed and you can have a bit more enjoyment rather than being positive and focused all the time. You can have a little bit more fun and you don’t have as much pressure on your game. It’s not as stressful as it is in international cricket.”Apart from bowling, Nel said he was keen on passing on tips to some of the youngsters in the side.”When I came over here two years ago the people were really friendly and welcoming. Ronnie Irani likes the way I play, being competitive. There’s a lot of excitement at Essex that there are several youngsters coming through who could take the club quite far.”The nice thing is that there are a lot of all-rounders and they’ve got a lot of skill,” he added. “They are a young bunch and that’s where you get your enjoyment. That is why I want to come back here as much as possible if they want me. I’m pretty lucky because I’m like a little schoolboy – quite naughty – in the changing rooms, so I fit in quite well. I get along with a lot of the youngsters because I’m quite young at heart. I hope I teach them something in a good way. If not, I’m doing something wrong.”Nel, 29, said that injuries to Essex had been tough on the other bowlers. “It’s been quite hard. The wickets have been flat,” he said. “I’m trying to give the guys energy when I bowl and help some of the younger guys, but on the flat wickets there isn’t a lot of back-up – although Danish [Kaneria] is unbelievable. But I’m certainly enjoying it and trying to take as many wickets as I can.”As for the opposition and Essex’s shot at the Division Two championship, Nel was, unsurprisingly, not lost for words. “When you play against the top sides, I think Essex will be up for it. We should do well because we’ve played good four-day cricket and we are keen to do well in the four-day competition,” he said. “I just go on the field and give it my all every time I play,” he added. “I think the biggest thing is that you can’t worry about it. You have got to do the basics and get them right first.”

Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, is expected to be fit for the firstTest, starting in Multan on March 28. Ganguly suffered an injury scare inthe final one-day match in Lahore when he fell awkwardly while attempting adiving stop at mid-off.An MRI scan at the hospital in Lahore today revealed nothing more seriousthan a lower-back spasm. According to hospital sources, Ganguly needs acouple of days to recover and should be in proper shape before the Test.The rest of the Indian team has already travelled in Multan, but Ganguly has stayed back in Lahore with Andrew Leipus, the Indian team’s physiotherapist, for medical consultation. He will join the team tomorrow.Ganguly’s condition had looked much more serious on Wednesday night when hehad be stretchered off the field after a desperate attempt to cut off anoff-drive from Inzamam-ul-Haq during the early part of Pakistan’s innings. He fell heavily and lay motionless on the field for a few minutes, and wasin intense pain for about an hour. Rahul Dravid captained India for the restof the match, but Ganguly was among the first onto the field to congratulatehis team after the victory.

The final leg of the league phase of the Duleep Trophy kicks off on Monday with all four teams involved having a chance of making the final in Mumbai.In Group A, East Zone and North Zone, who have both won their games against South Zone, clash in Rajkot, while Group B’s table-toppers England Lions take on West Zone in Vadodara.The Lions are best placed to advance, with a two-point lead over second-placed West, and only need to avoid defeat to qualify for the title clash. They will also be buoyed by the two wins they have notched up since arriving in India, especially their successful pursuit of a stiff 296 in the fourth innings against Central Zone [the other win was in a tour game against a Mumbai Cricket Association XI].Lions’ fast bowler Steve Kirby, though, was wary of West, who have a strong side with several players with international experience like Parthiv Patel and Ramesh Powar. “Tomorrow’s game is going to be the hardest we have on the tour,” he told . “We know that they have got a lot of fantastic cricketers in their side. I think we’d be wrong not to be thinking about both those players. But if we stick to our basics and stick to our confident way of playing, it isn’t going to matter who we come up against.”In the other game, North, with their experienced batting line-up, will be confident after their commanding performance against South. With both North and East tied on five points, a draw after gaining the first-innings lead will be enough for either side to go through.

Australian cricket can celebrate a couple of Aus$2 million men according to Business Review Weekly’s annual sporting rich-list. The captain Ricky Ponting may have missed matches because of injury and family illness in 2004, but it didn’t limit his earning as he pulled in an estimated $2.24m (US$1.69m) in contracts, match payments and sponsorship.Adam Gilchrist, the vice-captain, was second with Aus$2m (US$1.51m) while Shane Warne ($1.45m, US$1.09m), Matthew Hayden ($1.11m, US$840,000) and Glenn McGrath ($1.11m) also reached seven figures. Brett Lee has played only five days of Test cricket this year, but his marketing power pushed him to a reported $1.3m (US$1m), making him the game’s highest paid 12th man.The release of the list is poorly timed for the players as they begin a pay battle with Cricket Australia over the distribution of the board’s income. CA, who has paid them 25% of revenue since the first memorandum of understanding in 1997, want to reduce national contracts from 25 to 20 and convince the players to accept a standard annual fee so more money can be spent on the grassroots.Tim May, the Australian Cricketers Association chief executive, has presented the players’ view to CA and the issue needs to be settled by June. Current national contracts range from $140,000 to $500,000 and do not include match payments. Cricketers are well down the pay-list of Australian sports stars with Greg Norman (Aus$18m), Harry Kewell (Aus$15m) and Lleyton Hewitt (Aus$13.7m) filling the top three places.

Scorecard

An exhilarating display of power hitting from Virender Sehwag and a stylish century from Yuvraj Singh propelled India Seniors to a convincing five-wicket victory over India A in a warm-up match in which they had been comprehensively outplayed for the first three days.Needing a further 352 to overhaul an imposing target of 387 when they resumed in the morning, Sehwag and Yuvraj played with such flair and assurance that the A team couldn’t even entertain daydreams of success. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly an unforgettable over in which Sehwag – who had reached his century with a straight six – smashed Murali Kartik for 35 runs, including five sixes in an arc between midwicket and extra-cover.It was devastating stuff, and was just the tonic that Sehwag needed after his ten previous knocks in all forms of the game had realised a paltry 60 runs. At the other end, Yuvraj – who had himself been going through a fallow run – was a touch more circumspect, but drove and pulled with panache whenever the opportunity presented itself.John Wright, India’s coach, spoke afterwards of how chuffed he was that both Sehwag and Yuvraj had spent such quality time in the middle ahead of the searching examination that awaits in less than a week’s time. The opening partnership of 279 came at more than five an over, against an attack that was nothing like as potent as it had been in the first innings. Amit Bhandari and Shib Sankar Paul bowled only 11 overs between them in the day, while Kartik – his blonde-highlighted hair perhaps turned grey by the intensity of Sehwag’s blitz – was savaged to the tune of 129 from his 26 overs.Sehwag (146) was dropped once, on 103, but that was a minor quibble about a gloriously entertaining innings that featured 13 fours and nine sixes. Yuvraj’s 115 was no tortoise-like effort either, with 15 fours and a six in a chanceless 170-ball effort.With victory inevitable, the Seniors could even allow themselves a mid-afternoon wobble, with Dinesh Mongia’s innocuous left-arm spin accounting for three of the wickets to fall. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman both failed, and Aakash Chopra – retained to face the Aussies – made just 25, but a brisk unbeaten 44 from Parthiv Patel ensured that the target would be overhauled with 13.1 overs still left to be bowled in the day.

With Sourav Ganguly away consulting with the selectors on the composition of the national squad, it was Dravid who had consoling handshakes for the A team players as they trooped back in, a touch deflated. For men like Sridharan Sriram and Dheeraj Jadhav, both so assured against the acme of India’s bowling talent, it’s surely a case of when, not if, while for Mohammad Kaif and Kartik, it’s time to make the most of the chance that has come their way.Both Dravid and Ganguly had kept enquiring about the Mumbai-Australians match yesterday, and the Amol Mazumdar-led defiance at the Brabourne Stadium this afternoon would undoubtedly have put a smile on a few faces that have become more accustomed to frowns in the past two months. After a poor lead-up to the first Test at Brisbane last December, India were reckoned to be fair-weather batting aristocrats sent to the Australian bowling guillotine. Instead, Ganguly’s magnificent century set the tone for a series in which the Indians more than held their own.It will take something similarly inspirational to tackle a much-improved Australian side, but with Sehwag once again belting the ball with free-spirited abandon, there’ll be a spring in the step on Wednesday morning. Of course, a certain Mumbai gentleman’s inclusion in the 15-man squad doesn’t hurt morale either.

Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson have been cleared by the Australian selectors to play for Queensland as they battle to avoid the ING Cup wooden spoon at the Gabba on Friday. Both players were expected to miss the final match of the regular season as they prepared to leave for the one-day tour of South Africa on Monday, but they were granted permission to play against the Redbacks, who are pushing for a berth in the final on February 26.Ray Phillips, the chairman of selectors, said Nathan Rimmington, who was due to make his debut, and Steven Paulsen had been dropped from the original squad that was named on Wednesday. “Shane and Mitch haven’t had a lot of cricket lately and because they wanted to play we were more than happy to make the changes,” he said. “Apart from Andrew Symonds, this is virtually a full-strength line-up and we’re confident it will give us a chance to finish the one-day season on a high.”Queensland have never finished last in a domestic one-day competition and they face a tough challenge from South Australia, who boast Darren Lehmann, Jason Gillespie and Shaun Tait. New South Wales hold a five-point lead at the top of the table.Queensland Jimmy Maher (capt), Matthew Hayden, James Hopes, Clinton Perren, Shane Watson, Brendan Nash, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz, Michael Kasprowicz, Ashley Noffke, Mitchell Johnson.South Australia Greg Blewett, Cameron Borgas, Mark Cosgrove, Callum Ferguson, Darren Lehmann (capt), Daniel Harris, Ken Skewes, Ryan Harris, Graham Manou (wk), Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Cullen Bailey, Shaun Tait.

Western Australia are in danger of losing their star opening batsman Chris Rogers, who is meeting with the state’s officials to decide his future. Rogers is reportedly unhappy with his continued omission from the state’s one-day side, which he believes is limiting his chances of further international call-ups.He has attracted interest from South Australia and Queensland, while Tasmania’s captain Daniel Marsh also said the Tigers would love to have him. Rogers is speaking to the Western Australian Cricket Association’s chief executive Graeme Wood, the coach Tom Moody and the state match committee chairman Tom Hogan to assess his options.”There is no way we would like to see him go, he is a critical part of our future,” Moody told AAP. “He is highly regarded in this state, his record speaks for itself. Hopefully after those discussions with him he will be with us and looking forward.”Rogers, who holds a Cricket Australia contract, was named State Player of the Year in 2006-07 and made his Test debut at home in Perth this season. However, despite another solid Pura Cup season in which he made 744 runs at 43.76, Rogers is continually overlooked for limited-overs games and made only two FR Cup appearances this summer.A move to Adelaide would be a major coup for South Australia, whose top order has struggled severely since Darren Lehmann’s retirement. Queensland have also lost an experienced key batsman in Jimmy Maher, while Rogers could be a direct replacement for Tasmania’s departing opener Michael Di Venuto.Western Australia have also lost a top-order veteran with the retirement of Justin Langer, who was a regular one-day player for the state, and his absence might open a door for Rogers in the shorter format. Langer hopes whatever Rogers decides he does not let the matter drag on for too long.”It will be good for him to move on and the WACA to move on, whichever way he chooses to go,” Langer said. “If he wants to stay – and I would like to see him stay – then that is great, but if he decided he is not going to then he should make his decision.”

East Zone
Points table
Assam sneaked to a two-wicket win over Bengal in a low-scoring encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Dhanbad. Mark Ingty (3 for 28) removed Sourav Ganguly, who opened the innings, for 12 enroute to a three-wicket haul. No batsman crossed 25 as Bengal faltered against a disciplined bowling performance to be dismissed for 151. The trend continued in the Assam reply – only one batsman crossed the 25 mark- as they reached a wobbly 73 for 5 before a 60-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Vasanth Saravanan (34) and G Sharma (21) propelled them close to the target. The tail eked out contributions to take Assam home. With this win Assam have 8 points from three games while Bengal, with 9 points from three games, are perched on top of the East Zone table.Powered by a four-wicket haul from Preetamjit Das Orissa restricted Tripura to 188 to register a 16-run win at the Tata Digwadih Stadium in Dhanbad. Das (4 for 27) rocked the top order to leave Tripura struggling at 93 for 6, and despite some contributions down the order Tripura fell short in the end. Orissa were propped up by three 30 plus scores – Biswa Mohapatra (47), Subit Biswal (47) , Rashmi Das (36) – as they reached a fighting total.

Amit Varma and S Rajesh discuss the fourth day of the Antigua Test
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAThe Antigua Test is now open to all four results: West Indies, set 392 to win, reached 13 for no loss at the end of the fourth day. Amit Varma and S Rajesh, who wrote the bulletin for the match, discuss the day’s play: the indecisive umpiring of Asad Rauf, the big-innings temperament of Wasim Jaffer and India’s tactics in the second half of the day. They also look ahead to the fifth day, and while Amit picks Chris Gayle and Anil Kumble as the two men who could make decisive contributions, Rajesh thinks West Indies should punt with sending Dwayne Bravo up the order.Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA